Danish judge dismisses lawsuit over Mohammed cartoons

posted at 1:27 pm on October 26, 2006 by Allahpundit

The City Court in Aarhus rejected claims by seven Danish Muslim groups, which had argued that the 12 drawings printed in Jyllands-Posten on Sept. 30, 2005, were meant to insult the prophet and make a mockery of Islam…

In Denmark, seven Muslim organizations filed a joint defamation lawsuit against the paper in March, after the country’s top prosecutor ruled out criminal charges, saying the drawings did not violate any laws.

The court conceded that some Muslims saw the drawings as offensive, but found there was no basis to assume that “the purpose of the drawings was to present opinions that can belittle Muslims.”

American law typically limits defamation claims to assertions of fact. If you can show that your statements were merely an opinion — e.g., “we shouldn’t let Islamic terrorism intimidate us into self-censorship” — you have a defense. Likewise, as far as I know, no U.S. state acknowledges a tort of “group defamation.” Only individuals can be defamed in the legal sense. It sounds here like Danish law differs dramatically on those two points and that the only reason JP got away with it is because their motive was pure: the cartoons were a comment on censorship first and foremost, not on Muslim proclivities towards violence.

But what if they weren’t? What about those dopey DPP kids? The fact that JP didn’t have to pay up isn’t cause for celebration if someone else soon will.

Because no story about Islamist sensibilities being offended is complete without whining, here’s the view from Pakistan in vivid JihadLogic™:

“This was expected because the values and culture of the West are different from Muslim countries,” said Ameer ul-Azeem, spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, which belongs to an Islamic alliance that organized mass protests across Pakistan last year.

Western courts “should listen to what Muslim scholars think,” ul-Azeem said. “If they think these cartoons insult their religion and the prophet, the courts should respect these views. It is not up to the court to decide if Muslims will have hard feelings or not.”

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“This was expected because the values and culture of the West are different from Muslim countries,” said Ameer ul-Azeem, spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, which belongs to an Islamic alliance that organized mass protests across Pakistan last year.
Western courts “should listen to what Muslim scholars think,” ul-Azeem said. “If they think these cartoons insult their religion and the prophet, the courts should respect these views. It is not up to the court to decide if Muslims will have hard feelings or not.”

If I were a liberal Democrat, I would be urging, “More immigration! More immigration! No border fence. We love multiculturalism! Please, Ameer ul-Azeem! Bring your brothers and sisters and all their cousins and immigrate to the West. After all, multiculturalism has “made us strong.” Your opinions and diversity have made the West truly great.

By the way, the court really didn’t stand up for freedom of speech; they simply stated that the opinions did not “belittle” Muslims. That is hardly freedom of speech.

(I also am sending that judge some of the barrels of Iraqi oil Dubya hid in my garage)

Agreed – I think I’ll give him some of my Halliburton stock (the secret stock that only us insiders know about), and I might just let him play with my mini-hurricane making machine (just got it last week – came straight from the White House as a gift).

“This was expected because the values and culture of the West are different from Muslim countries,” said Ameer ul-Azeem, spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, which belongs to an Islamic alliance that organized mass protests across Pakistan last year.

Western courts “should listen to what Muslim scholars think,” ul-Azeem said. “If they think these cartoons insult their religion and the prophet, the courts should respect these views. It is not up to the court to decide if Muslims will have hard feelings or not.”

What a crock! ARGH! GRRRR!!!

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW YOU FEEL!!! AND UNLESS YOU’RE A CITICZEN, IT’S NOT YOUR COUNTRY!

Word for the day – assimilation. I had to do it when I lived in Romania. Middle Eastern peeps can do it in the west.

If you want to change the culture, become a citizen and participate. If society likes it, they’ll adapt. If they don’t, it will go the way of the dodo.

Sorry for the rant. Long day at work and I’m getting tired of the “Religion of perpetual violence” whining about the lack of theocracies in the west.

Personally, I wish every newspaper in Europe and North America would just pick a day and all publish the Danish cartoons in a show of solidarity and freedom of the press. In other words, flood the zone–no matter how much outrage the Islamists want to express, they couldn’t gain any traction against a united front. And if they started breaking and torching things, well, that’s what water cannons and CS gas are for. Put them in their place–which is no worse than anybody else’s place in a civilized (key word, there) society, but it isn’t any better, either. Of course, a show of courage and solidarity like that will never happen, because that would require guts and backbone on the part of the entire journalism profession, not just a rare few. No, instead they’ll take the easy way out and attack targets that they know won’t hit back, like the Bush administration.

(And, what’s wrong with “belittling Muslims”… if they are generally acting like homicidal pinheads? Or playing the 3 Monkeys from the Buddhist iconography. Hear-No, See-No and Speak-No about their murderous co-religionists?)

Hey…the west can’t show heads being decapitated as screams of “Allah Akbar” fill the air, but they can sure show successful snipering of our troops. My money isn’t on the integrity of the media in exposing the Islamic fringe…and my hopes aren’t that high.

Western Sharia courts “should listen to what Muslim any type of scholars think,” ul-Azeem said. “If they think these cartoons insult their religion and the prophet, the Sharia courts should respect these views. It is not up to the court to decide if Muslims other humans will have hard feelings or not.”